In a Hole

One of the oddities of the Tour de France is that the riskiest and most pulse-pounding finishes, like today’s Stage 5 sprint, often barely cause more than a ripple in the General Classification (the GC, or overall standings), and have even less of an effect on the top contenders. (Mark Cavendish won today, and thanks to the way Tour placings are scored, the field just behind Cavendish, containing all the overall contenders, was given the same finishing time.) The riders aiming to be on the podium in Paris almost always sit out the sprints: The danger of crashing is high and the potential time gains are dwarfed by the rewards on tap in the mountains and time trials. In fact, at this phase in the Tour, the contenders really don’t even care much about the GC. What they’re studying is something sometimes referred to as the CC, or the Contender’s Classification, a stripped-down look only at the time gaps between the favorites.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

Lance Armstrong spoke about this after yesterday’s stage. "I think now you just got to pick up a few guys and focus on them” he told reporters. “It's easy to look at the GC and say, 'Gosh, there's 17 guys ahead of you. But for the most part the vast majority of them won't be there [at the end]."

Tomorrow’s Stage 6 ends the first week of the Tour. Assuming there are no significant changes to the standings as they appear today (Friday’s race has four Category 4 climbs but is considered another one for the sprinters), Armstrong is in the worst position in the Contender’s Classification he’s ever been in after week one. In fact, in his seven victories and last year’s third-place Tour, he’s been behind in the CC only twice, and one of those instances was by only seven seconds. There’s no other way to look at it: Armstrong is facing his toughest Tour yet coming out of week one. His next-worst week one was in 2001, when he stood 56 seconds behind contender Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano, who would go on to finish fifth, and 46 seconds behind Joseba Beloki, who would take third on the podium in Paris. (The second-place podium spot went to Jan Ullrich, who at the end of week one was already behind Armstrong.)

This compilation of the Contender’s Classifications shows how he compares to a select group of opponents each year after the first week of racing. (The stages covered by the end of the first week vary with the inclusion of prologues, but in none of these instances, including this year, had the Tour entered the mountains yet. And, for reference, the final top three overall for each year are marked 1-2-3 in brackets.)

A Part of Hearst Digital Media
Bicycling participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites.